At our Christmas Eve celebrations here at St Jude, we welcome all of you to St Jude. We welcome all here, especially any visitors or out of town guests who are visiting us for mass tonight. I hope you all feel a warm welcome from all of us. We are glad you are all here celebrating with us this evening.
On the night Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph arrived at the end of a long, tiring journey. They had traveled approximately 90 miles on foot from Nazareth to Bethlehem. I know that from my hiking days that 20 miles a day is a very long day. And here Mary is traveling that distance, about to bear a child.
Imagine their disappointment when they found out that the journey would not end with a comfortable night’s sleep: there was no room for them at the inn. Still, the innkeeper offered the little he could give, which was to stay in his stable overnight.
Our joyful Christmas celebration tonight ends our period of waiting and preparation. We join with Christians around the world to celebrate this sacred night. We ready our hearts for the arrival of Jesus on Christmas.
God born in a humble manger, in a trough where animal’s ate, in a stable in the little town of Bethlehem. Would we have thought that God would be born there? Who would have thought that God would take the form of this humble little baby?
And who were the first guests to greet the baby Jesus into the world?: the heavenly host of angels and shepherds watching their flock at night. Not only did he come into that humble manger in the lost forgotten village far away from the great center of Jerusalem, but the first visitors, the shepherds, were outcasts in society, the last of the last. There who open to receiving the news of Jesus' birth because they were on watch that night with their flock. They were waiting and preparing.
The angel greeted the shepherds in the midst of their watch with these words: "Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy.” That is what we the faithful are told on Christmas eve as well: “Do not afraid. Open your hearts to the message of the Christ child with great joy.” Out of love, our heavenly Father presents us the precious gift of his son, a gift of new life and salvation, a gift of love and peace, a gift of light and joy.
“The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine.” Isaiah proclaimed those words many centuries before the birth of Christ. For us, Christ fulfills that prophesy of bringing light into our lives. Light dawned at the beginning of the creation when God the Father looked at the dark abyss and proclaimed: “Let there be light.”
In many ways, we can say that light in the most important force in all of creation. Without light, we cannot see and we cannot be seen. Without light, we cannot, grow, we cannot grow, we cannot live, we cannot see the truth of the reality around us. Light warms out bodies. Light leads us to God.
Jesus, the little baby who was born in the manger in Bethlehem, brings a bright to our world. He brings a bright light to our lives of faith. In the midst of any darkness we experience in our lives, that light is there. That light brings us hope.
Merry Christmas to all of you as we celebrate the birth of Christ tonight, as we celebrate the presence of Christ the light in our world.
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